Glossary

  • AB

    See Social Grade.

  • Adults

    In UK audience measurement, 'Adults' refers to all viewers aged 16 and over.

  • Audience

    The absolute number of people watching a programme, channel or daypart in a given demographic. Audience is typically expressed in thousands or millions.

  • Audience Profile

    An audience profile shows the proportion of viewers by demographic group. Typical profiles are by age and Social Grade.

  • BARB

    The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, responsible for UK television audience data.

  • BARB Panel

    The sample of UK television households from which BARB constructs viewing estimates.

  • Benchmarks

    Benchmarking is used widely by Attentional to provide a measure of how a set of figures compare to 'normal'. In general, a benchmark figure will be produced by calculating an average value (of share or audience for instance) for a given channel, timeslot and date range. Figures that are produced against a benchmar are often expressed as an index. Where such an index is used a figure of 100 indicates a performance equal to the benchmark. Figures above 100 indicate better performance than the benchmark, while figures below 100 indicate worse performance.

  • C1

    See Social Grade.

  • C2

    See Social Grade.

  • Children

    In UK audience measurement, 'Children' refers to all viewers aged 4-15. Viewers under 4 years of age are not monitored separately.

  • Consolidated Audience

    This is the sum of the Live and Timeshift audiences.

  • Daypart

    This is a section of the viewing day. Different broadcasters use different variations, but typical examples include Breakfast (0600-0930hrs), Daytime (0930-1800hrs) and Peaktime (1800-2300hrs).

  • DE

    See Social Grade.

  • DTH

    Direct-to-Home - the Sky platform in the UK.

  • DTT

    Digital Terrestrial Television - Freeview in the UK.

  • EPG

    Electronic Programme Guide, an on-screen channel and programme listing available on digital TV.

  • Establishment Survey

    A survey undertaken to determine the ownership of television equipment, and demographic characteristics of the population. The results inform the sample used for the BARB panel.

  • Head of Household

    The household member who either owns the property; is responsible for paying the rent; has use of the home as a result of his/her job; or is related to the owner or main tenant (where the owner or main tenant is not a regular member of the household).

  • Hours/Minutes of Viewing

    The amount of TV watched by a particular audience category, generally expressed as an average over a given time period (e.g. average of 50 minutes per day).

  • Housewife

    The household member who is responsible for the household duties. A housewife may be male or female, and there is only one housewife per household.

  • Impacts

    A measure of viewing to advertisements. One impact is equivalent to one viewer watching one 30-second advertising spot.

  • Individuals

    In UK audience research, this is all viewers aged 4+. Some countries use different definitions.

  • Live Audience

    The number of people watching at the time of transmission, rather than through recorded playback.

  • Loyalty

    This is a measure of how long individuals are watching programmes before switching away. It is calculated by dividing the average Audience by the Reach.

  • Metadata

    Data used to describe other data. For examples, the Production Company field added to the BARB data by Attentional is metadata, as it describes other data (the programme).

  • Multichannel Home

    Any household receiving cable, satellite and/or digital terrestrial transmissions.

  • Network

    In an audience context, Network usually refers to any programme shown in four or more regions of the UK simultaneously (e.g. not a regional transmission).

  • Overnight

    A report based on viewing data from the day before, usually delivered daily in the form of a schedule with ratings data.

  • Panel 50

    This is the full BARB panel, containing a mix of household types representative of the UK population.

  • Panel 70

    This is a subset of the Barb panel, containing only multichannel homes.

  • Performance Index

    Attentional's Performance Index (previously Targeted Index™ or TI™) shows how programmes have performed against the genre average for their channel and timeslot. The benchmarks used have been developed and tested by our statistical experts to provide a robust performance measure. It therefore offers a like-for-like comparison, reflecting the fact that genres as different as Drama and Current Affairs cannot be realistically expected to achieve the same audiences.

    The Performance Index is calculated using 365 days worth of programme data, to ensure that a representative sample is used. The 365 day period is calculated as the 365 days immediately preceding either the transmission date of the programme being benchmarked, or the latest available programme data date (whichever is earlier). This 365 day period is shortened if the channel in question has not been supplying transmission data for a sufficient amount of time. An index is not produced if the channel has been supplying programme data for less than 14 days, or if programme data is missing from more than 10% of the benchmark days (due to unavailability of BARB data on certain days). Initially an attempt is made to calculate a benchmark figure using programmes only from weekends or weekdays (depending on the day of the programme being benchmarked). However if less than 3 such programmes are available the day-scope is expanded to include figures from all days of the week. If after extending the benchmark criteria to all days of the week there are still less than 3 programmes available from which to produce a benchmark the Performance Index is deemed to be invalid.

    A figure of 100 indicates that the programme share was equal to the benchmark share. Figures above 100 indicate better performance than the benchmark, while figures below 100 indicate worse performance.

  • Platform

    A term used to describe the various ways in which a household can receive a TV signal. Six platforms are currently available in the UK: analogue terrestrial, analogue satellite, analogue cable, digital terrestrial, digital satellite and digital cable.

  • Programme Audience

    This is the average audience for all the minutes covered by the programme, excluding advertisements, trailers and promotions.

  • Primetime

    For the purposes of calculating an RSI figure a 'primetime programme' is defined as a programme whose midpoint occurs between 18:00 and 23:00 (inclusive).

  • PVR

    Personal Video Recorder, such as the Sky+ box.

  • Rating

    See TVR.

  • Reach

    The number or percentage of viewers who have seen a particular item (e.g programme, channel, daypart). The standard reach definition is three consecutive minutes (this is the amount of time someone has to watch the item before they count as a 'viewer'), although other reach criteria can also be used. Reach is cumulative - if someone watches the first episode of a series they will be added to the series reach, but they will not be counted again when they watch the second episode.

  • RSI

    Relative Share Index gives a index rating for a given programme based upon its share performance compared with the a benchmark share of other programmes on that channel within the last year. Primetime programmes are compared with a benchmark produced using impacts from the primetime time range, while all other programmes are compared with a benchmark produced from all available impacts within each benchmark day. The benchmark share is calculated using impacts occurring between the broadcast date of the specified programme and the 'benchmark start date'. The 'benchmark start date' is 365 days preceeding the programme's broadcast date or the date on which the channel began supplying impact figures (whichever is more recent). A benchmark share figure is not produced if the channel has been supplying impact figures for less than 14 days, or if impact figures are missing from more than 10% of the days since the 'benchmark start date' (due to unavailability of BARB data on certain days). The RSI is expressed as an Index, with a figure of 100 indicating that the programme share was equal to the benchmark share. Figures above 100 indicate better performance than the benchmark, while figures below 100 indicate worse performance.

  • Share

    The percentage of the total TV audience watching over a given time period. This can be applied to channels, programmes or time periods. For example, an All Individuals share of 40% for EastEnders means that 40% of all the people watching TV during the time EastEnders was on were watching EastEnders.

  • Social Grade

    A classification of household status used in UK, based on the occupation of the Chief Income Earner in TAM panel households. The social grades are: AB - higher (A) or intermediate (B) managerial, administrative; C1 - supervisory or clerical, and junior managerial, administrative or professional; C2 - skilled manual workers; D - semi-skilled and unskilled workers; E - state pensioners, casual or unskilled workers.

  • Spot

    An individual occurrence of an advertisement.

  • TAM

    Television Audience Measurement.

  • Transmissions check / 'Tape Check'

    We compare the published schedule for the terrestrial channels against recordings every day in order to factor in any late schedule changes.  For more information on this please look at our FAQ.

  • Terrestrial TV

    Television received through a normal aerial.

  • TI™

    Previously Targeted Index™ or TI™, now called Performance Index

  • Timeshift Audience

    The playback audience using VCR or PVR. In the UK, playback audience is added into the Consolidated Audience provided it occurs within 163 hours of the original transmission.

  • 'Total' channels

    Channels with a time shift variant (e.g. E4 and E4+1) are usually available as a 'Total' channel as well. For example, E4 Total will combine the ratings of a programme shown on E4 with its ratings on E4+1 an hour later. The audience figures are added together, so if the programme achieved an audience of 400,000 on E4 at 9pm and 50,000 on E4+1 at 10pm, the audience for E4 Total would be 450,000. The Share figure is calculated using the industry standard of dividing the combined programme audience by total television viewing in the 9pm slot. All schedule information (including start times) on a 'Total' channel will be the same as the primary (non-timeshift) channel, e.g. the E4 Total schedule will be the same as the E4 schedule.

  • Total TV

    The average number of all the viewers in a particular demographic who are watching TV at a particular time.

  • TVR

    Television Rating. This is the audience of a programme or daypart expressed as a percentage of the population as a whole. For examples, an Adults 16-34 TVR of 20% for EastEnders means that 20% of all 16-34's living in UK television households watched that programme.

  • Universe

    The total population of a particular viewing category, usually expressed in 000s.

  • Viewer Hour

    One viewer hour is equivalent to one viewer watching one hour. Programme viewer hours are calculated by multiplying the Audience (in 000s) by the programme's duration (in hours).